Bognor care home criticises CQC format after third consecutive negative report

Oban House Residential Care Home, in Victoria Drive, Bognor, provides residential care for up to 30 adults over the age of 65.

It required improvement in safety, effectiveness and response, whilst it was rated 'inadequate' for leadership, but was judged to be 'good' for caring.

According to the CQC report, which was released on Friday (October 19) after the unannounced inspection on June 19, it is the third time that the care home has required improvement after an inspection, with two breaches of regulations of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 identified in January 2017, and five breaches found in September 2017.

However, according to Oban House, CQC inspections are taking away 'good quality, person centred care'.

Care home manager Diane Morris added: "Due to the huge amounts of paperwork managers and staff have to complete, the focus is no longer on the person or their views. It’s on a piece of paper that may not be in place at that time.

"Good care homes are being closed because of the pressure put on them to improve paperwork not care."

Following the two previous reports, CQC inspectors met with the provider and 'confirmed an action plan' requiring the care home to address the breaches by February 2018.

However, CQC said it found 'continued breaches'.

The report added: "We identified there were continued breaches as we were not assured that people's capacity was being assessed in line with best practice guidance or relevant people were involved in best interest decisions."

It added that the service was not 'consistently safe', with risks not 'consistently assessed and mitigated to reduce the risk of harm'.

The inspector also noted that the service was not 'consistently' effective or responsive.

It added: "Systems in place to manage accidents and incidents were not robust.

"Accidents and incidents forms were completed and reviewed, however, action was not always taken to ensure future risks were mitigated and lessons learned.

"People's needs were holistically assessed. However, this information was not always used to meet their needs.

"People did not consistently receive person-centred care that was reflective of their needs and preferences. People did not have regular access to meaningful activities."

The inspector also found that the service was not well-led and did not have a 'robust oversight' of the home — the third consecutive breach of this regulation.

However, Oban house said it has continued to put improvements in place over the past year and will 'continue to do so' to ensure it 'meets the needs' of residents and staff.

Mrs Morris added: "We have good feedback from both residents, their family members and other health professionals that visit the home.

"We work with the local authority and have built up a good rapport with them.

"The owners, the manager and staff are passionate about our residents and their needs and their input is very important to us.

"Throughout the report it states some really good feedback about the care provided and the improvements that have been put in place but I feel this was not reflected in the report ratings."

The CQC report states people were 'protected from the risk of abuse' and staff received safeguarding training and knew the potential signs of abuse, whilst people were protected from the spread of infection and the home was clean. People, their relatives and staff were also 'complimentary' of the current management and leadership of the home.

The report said people's independence was 'promoted and people felt they had the right to make choices'.

It said the care home offered people the opportunity to 'plan for the end of their lives' and discussions had taken place with people and their families about their end of life care wishes, in a way 'they could understand'.

One resident told the inspector: "Staff are very pleasant, caring and they do respond to calls for help," whilst another said, "they do communicate with me about my care" and "I do feel I can make decisions for myself in here."

One member of staff said there have been improvements after a new manager was brought in. One relative said: "You can approach the manager if there was an issue."